If the Glove Doesn't Fit, You'll Grow Into It
by LoLoGreeneVines
Summary: An eleven-year-old Peter Pettigrew is about to be sorted, and the Hat makes an unusual decision.


Peter Pettigrew was nervous. After all, it wasn't every day the rest of your life was essentially decided by a singing hat in front of a crowd of around a thousand people.

Oh yes, Peter knew all about the Sorting Hat, which is probably why he didn't flee from the Great Hall in terror. Having been brought up by a witch, he was aware that the famous Hogwarts Sorting ceremony didn't involve wrestling a troll, or casting a spell, as an hysterical girl behind him was squealing to her friend.

Sure enough, at that moment Professor McGonagall emerged from a room to the left of the teachers' table with a four-legged stool and a battered old hat and placed them in front of the first-years. Peter was dimly aware that the rest of the school were looking on, staring at the hat in anticipation.

Peter was not too alarmed about the fact that the Hat took the opportunity to burst into song, as his mother had explained to him the Hat's role of looking inside one's head and putting them into the house which best matched their characteristics, and its tendency to sing about it. Too nervous to listen to what the Hat was actually singing, Peter instead turned to his left where he could hear a boy talking excitedly.

"You have absolutely nothing to worry about, the Hat'll definitely put you in Slytherin. You're so clever, you couldn't go anywhere else!" Peter saw a pallid, dark-haired boy chattering happily to a pretty girl with long red hair. Noticing Peter listening, the dark-haired boy scowled at him, but the girl just gave Peter a friendly smile and admonished her friend.

"You know, Sev, you don't have to scowl at everyone, I bet he's just as nervous as I am as it is. Besides, you actually have a nice smile..."

The other boy looked up at her quickly. "You think so?" he asked. Peter turned away before the girl could answer. He didn't believe the girl could be right about such a grumpy-looking boy having a 'nice smile,' and he certainly had no desire to see the boy's attempt at one.

Just as he turned away, the Sorting Hat finished singing and the room burst into applause. As the clapping died down, Professor McGonagall stepped forward, a long roll of parchment in her hands, and addressed the first-years.

"You are to come up to the stool and put the Hat on as I call your names," Professor McGonagall declared. "Avery, Malcolm!"

Peter barely paid attention as a tall boy pushed past him to the Hat, which he jammed on his head.

"SLYTHERIN!" the Hat announced quickly. Peter winced, the Hat's shout dragging him out of his reverie and into panic. Peter had about as much desire to end up in Slytherin as he had to see the dark-haired boy to his left's 'nice smile,' - the thought of either scenario was so terrifying to Peter that instead of watching the Sorting, and being made even more nervous, he looked upwards and stared at the ceiling, mesmerised by the clouds swirling across the false sky. Peter barely even heard "Bertrand, Aubrey" and "Black, Sirius" being sorted into Slytherin and Gryffindor respectively.

Thirty minutes of panicking as the crowd around him thinned and he became more visible to the school later, McGonagall finally called out "Pettigrew, Peter!" Peter stumbled forward, fully aware that the entire school was watching him. Glancing up at the staff table, Peter saw an old wizard in deep purple robes smiling kindly at him. _That must be Dumbledore, then,_ Peter thought.

Peter reached the stool and sat down, quickly placing the Hat on his head and over his small, watery eyes before he could see the mass of people staring at him.

"Oh dear."

It happened so quickly Peter could barely be sure he had heard it.

_Excuse me?_ Peter thought.

"Nothing, Mr. Pettigrew, don't you worry," the Hat said slyly. "Yes, you're interesting."

_What about me is so interesting?_ Peter thought worriedly.

"I'll get to that in a bit," the small voice said. "First, we must work out where you do _not_ fit."

_Not Slytherin,_ Peter thought. _Anywhere but Slytherin._

"Why's that, boy?" the Hat asked. "You have selfish tendencies and if put in danger you would save yourself. That kind of self-preservation is highly valued in Slytherin. It shows _cleverness._"

_Don't put me there, I couldn't stand it. I'd only end up bullied._

"Yes, you're probably right," the Hat said smoothly. "Slytherin would not be the best place for you."

_Thank you,_ Peter thought.

The Hat hummed softly inside Peter's head. "I think it's fairly safe to say that you're no Ravenclaw," it continued. "While you're not unintelligent and you have the potential to achieve some great magic some day, you're not open to new experiences and you prefer to stick to what you know is safe. These are not characteristics of Ravenclaw."

_That's fair,_ Peter thought. _Please could you just put me in Hufflepuff and get this over with? People are staring at me._

"It's true your personality fits well with Hufflepuff," the small voice said. "You're hard-working and extremely loyal to those you look up to. _However,_" it continued, "your tendency to look up to people is precisely why I do not think you would do best in Hufflepuff."

_What are you talking about? If it fits, put me there!_ Peter thought frustratedly.

"What a lot of people don't realise," the Hat said softly, "Is that my job is not simply to find the right glove for your hand as it is, but to work out which glove your hand will best grow into."

_I beg your pardon?_ Peter demanded mentally.

"I just wanted to test your response to metaphors," the Hat said. "What I mean is that the place which fits your personality best may not necessarily be the best place _for you."_

_I don't understand what you mean,_ Peter thought.

The Hat sighed. "It is my job to ensure that you will grow to be the best wizard you can be," it said. "In most cases, that is indeed the house which best matches one's personality. However, in your case I think it is more important to think about what you can take away from each of the houses."

_I'm not sure I follow,_ Peter thought.

"You have a tendency to look up to other people around you and emulate their behaviours," the Hat said. "It is my opinion that the place in which you could learn the most is Gryffindor."

Peter heard the Hat shout its final word to the entire Great Hall, which erupted into applause, and took off the hat, placing it back on the stool. Peter descended the few steps and made his way over to the Gryffindor table, spotting the red-headed girl who had smiled at him earlier. Reasoning that she was probably a safe person to sit by as her scowling companion sounded pretty certain to be Sorted into Slytherin, he took the seat opposite her and nodded in awkward acknowledgement.

"I'm Lily Evans," the girl said, holding her hand out across the table.

"Peter Pettigrew," Peter said, shaking Lily's hand. However, before he could say anything else, there was a cry of "GRYFFINDOR!", the Great Hall began applauding again and the boy sitting next to Lily let out a series of whoops. Peter watched the next boy walking down from the stool and noticed that Lily was pointedly staring in the opposite direction. The boy made his way over to near where Peter was sitting and took a seat next to the boy sitting next to Lily. Peter immediately recognised the two boys as the ones he had shared a boat with on the way up to the castle, who had shown off small spells to each other.

"You made it to Gryffindor after all, Black?" the new boy asked.

"I did indeed, Potter," responded Black. "My family will be so disappointed in me." The boy turned around, searched the Slytherin table and gave a sarcastic smile and a wave to one of the older boys who looked rather like him. Potter laughed as the Slytherin boy frowned and turned back to his own friends.

"What's your name, then?" Potter asked Peter.

"Peter Pettigrew," Peter responded nervously.

"Great! Well, you're new, so that means we'll be sharing a dormitory with you," Potter said. "I'm James Potter-"

"And I'm Sirius Black," the boy between him and Lily said, grinning in a friendly manner. Lily huffed haughtily, before turning back to the Hat, which her greasy-haired friend was walking up to.

"Oh! It's Snivellus from the train!" James exclaimed loudly, earning himself a disapproving glare from Lily. "I really hope the Hat puts him in Slytherin."

Sure enough, the Hat quickly shouted "SLYTHERIN!" to the Great Hall, and Lily let out a disappointed sigh. Peter looked over at Snape and saw him responding to Lily's sad smile with a sad look of his own.

While Lily and her friend spent the remaining ten minutes gesturing to each other across the Hall, Peter joined in James' and Sirius' conversation about their subjects, the teachers, and what the food would be like (Peter was particularly looking forward to the food), and when Professor Dumbledore announced that it was time to begin the feast, clapping his hands, Peter could hardly contain his excitement. When the empty plates up and down the tables magically filled themselves with food, Peter took as much as he could fit on his own plate.

When the feast had finished and Dumbledore had addressed the students, Peter stood up with the rest of the Hall and joined James and Sirius in the crowd of first-years following their prefect.

Peter suddenly remembered how Lily had appeared to be sitting on her own and felt guilty about the fact that she had nobody to walk up with, but when he spotted her talking to another girl who had been sitting a few places away he pushed away his guilt and continued chatting with James and Sirius, who had found another boy to add to their little group.

As the group headed up the staircase towards the seventh floor Peter reflected on what the Hat had said about looking up to people and learning from houses, and he realised he understood exactly what the Hat had meant. Peter knew he wasn't at all brave, but he hoped that with James, Sirius and now Remus as friends, he could learn how to be brave from their example.


End file.
